Just a Kid
by Icee67
Summary: A group of orphans find themselves in a difficult situation when a gang won't cease abusing and threatening them. Until these kids just happen to run into, you guessed it, The A-Team! But the team is completely unprepared for what they will soon find out.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well...hello...I guess it's been a good year since I posted anything worthy, hasn't it? Anyways! For those of you who remember me, I'm _HeartMurdock345_...just with a different name...I'll stop rambling and talk about the story now because it isn't all about me, since I have a partner in this writing business now!**

**This awesome story is being Co-Written by me and _LookImUpsideDown_, and basically we have a group of orphans who are living together and keep having all kinds of trouble with this gang. So who do they happen to find? And prepare for shockers in later chapters! We hope you enjoy this story!**

"And...Checkmate." Marcus Schevik knocked his opponent's white king off the board, smiling in sweet victory. Nick Anderson scowled at his loss. "You cheated."

Marcus instantly shook his head back and forth. "You just can't play."

"And you're just an egghead." Nick smirked as he left the table to sit beside Axel Turner on the couch, who was flipping through a magazine that appeared to be about cars.

"Maybe if you had ever went to class, you would have learned some things in life." Marcus called over as he set the board back up.

The seventeen year old on the couch rolled his eyes. "Where's the fun in that?" Nick was muttering.

Axel turned halfway towards him, pushing her dirty-blond hair out of her green eyes. "Might have kept you out of jail all those times."

"Hey," Nick pointed at the sixteen year old girl with his index finger. "Jail is one thing. It makes you look tough, like you actually went out and did something dangerous. But winning a chess match to a twelve year old is nothing to gloat about."

Marcus pushed his glasses up his nose as he glared at Nick. "I'm thirteen, Nick."

"And I don't really care, ginger."

"Don't call me ginger!" The younger boy stood and left the table, standing in front of Nick with clenched fists. "You know I don't like being called that."

Nick ran a hand through his shaggy light-brown hair and smirked at the frustrated kid before him. "And why do you think I do it?" His icy blue eyes glistened with the joy of picking on the boy.

Axel dropped the magazine onto the table, it made a soft thud and she leaned towards the boys. "How about we stop arguing like children and have a decent conversation where no one gets offended? And Nick, in case you don't understand: Stop picking on Marcus or I'll smack you with my magazine."

Luckily the door opened and neither party had to agree to that suggestion, for a tall African woman came breezing in with a small boy at her side, holding her hand tightly.

"Lia," Nick heaved himself off the sofa. "You got my Snowballs, right?"

Lia Jackson gave him a sharp look as she nodded to the bags in her hands. "Well hi, Nick. I'm fine, thank you very much. Want to give me a hand? Of course you do." She lifted her arm and dropped the two bags into Nick's hand before he could object.

The eleven year old at her side went to sit beside Axel on the couch, offering her a stick of gum from the pink package he held.

"Thanks, Joshi." She popped it in her mouth and resumed reading her magazine. By now, another face had joined the small crowd in the apartment. A fifteen year old Chinese girl came out of the bathroom, her soft black hair hanging wet around her face. Hochi Chan let out a quick gust of air, fanning herself.

"Sure gets steamy in there."

"You could shower with the door open," Nick offered, which was followed by Lia smacking his arm and Hochi throwing the only couch pillow across the room at him.

She folded her arms over her chest, her face unhappy. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Nick's only response was a sly grin and Axel turned around on the couch, indicating Joshi Mattman. "Hey! Young ears, asshole."

It was Lia's turn to point, looking quite stern. "Hey, language!"

"Yeah, 'cause I'm not used to that, too." Joshi was muttering as he untied his shoelaces and kicked the shoes off.

"Well you better not be repeating it, Joshi." Lia reminded the blond haired, brown eyed boy for the sixth time that week and he almost groaned, knowing better.

"I know. But don't think I didn't hear Levi over-using a certain naughty word a few hours ago."

"Levi had two excuses," Nick explained, climbing up to sit on the dining table across the room. "One, he's twenty. Two, he was really pi-...I mean ticked off. And three, it just sounds cool when Levi says it, since he's so dark anyways."

Axel rolled her eyes. "That's THREE excuses. God, Nick. First, you lose to a thirteen-year-old at chess. Now, you can't count to three. I didn't think it was possible, but you might actually be getting STUPIDER."

Marcus snorted laughter from his place at the refrigerator, earning a quick scowl from Lia before she went to grab Nick's ear roughly. "Hey, ow!"

"Get your butt off the table, we eat there." She proceeded to tug his ear until he scrambled down and shoved her off him.

"Look, I'm the hot one here. Don't ruin my face and/or head." Nick made a circle gesture with his finger. Pretty much used to his behavior, the others mostly ignored him.

Joshi reached for the television remote and turned the small TV on. Axel kicked her feet up on the rickety coffee table to read an article about the latest Lamborghini. Lia finished putting the small amount of groceries away and sat at the table to look at the paperwork for her part time job. Marcus wandered back to his chess set and much to his dismay, Nick followed. Hochi pulled her legs up onto the chair with her, watching the show Joshi had selected.

This was a typical evening for the small household. The only missing piece was the tall, dark-haired Levi Rizzo. Normally he would have been seated beside Lia, his girlfriend, watching her work with his big, deep brown eyes. But Levi had stepped out for a walk around noon, in order to calm himself from his previous explosion. This one had been about a threatening letter telling the group they were going to get kicked out soon if they couldn't pay rent within the week.

Being the oldest, Levi felt it his responsibility to take care of these things, and he felt as if he was going to fail taking care of everyone like he had promised to do. Lia knew it had something to do with there being no one to take care of him when he was a child- not that she'd ever share that thought with Levi. He was a sweetheart, but mention his family and… it isn't pretty.

"Let's watch-" Hochi's suggestion broke off when the door was opened once more and she was the first to see who was coming in. Her tiny scream was loud and got the attention of everyone else.

Levi stumbled in, barely managing to walk. His clothes were torn and bloody, and more of the warm red stuff was running out of his nose and his jacket sleeves. His right eye was blacked, the bruise extending down over his cheek and to his chin. His bottom lip suffered a large gash, his shaggy hair completely messed up.

Lia was the first to reach him, afraid to touch him in case the damage was even worse under his clothes. But she could not resist and embraced him in her warm arms. He gasped for a moment before slowly putting his right arm around her, hearing her sniffing into his jacket.

Joshi managed to see around her and suddenly shrieked at the sight. He was backing away, tears falling freely down his cheeks. Marcus jumped out of his chair, gagging at the sight of the blood as he felt his heart racing in his chest.

"Lev?" Lia whispered, looking up at him. He tried to breathe, but a sudden pain stopped that and he double over, clutching his chest with a grimace. As the spasm of pain ended, he managed to partly straighten up.

"I'm… Fine. I'm fine." Levi managed to sputter out. Lia shook her head in disbelief. He tried to grin at his girlfriend- a horrible sight, as his mouth was full of blood. "Li- I'm okay."

"Oh, yeah," Axel scoffed, though her face was pale. "You're just PERFECT."

Hochi was in the corner of the room, hugging herself as she shook with terror. "They've gotten worse!" She cried to the others. "They almost killed him!"

Lia glanced at her, knowing she was right. She led the broken man to the couch, where Axel made room. As soon as she had him down, Lia quickly went to pull Hochi in her arms to calm the younger girl as Nick left his chair to kneel by Joshi, doing the same as the boy sobbed into his shoulder.

Axel stared in disbelief at the broken man next to her, who was at that moment bleeding all over the couch.

"That's it!" Axel said furiously. She jumped up from her place on the couch. "I am tired of hiding while those dicks get away with this! We have to go do something."

Lia stared at her, incredulous and terrified. "Axel, no." she said. "We can… we can call the police again."

Nick looked at her over the top of Joshi's shaking head. "They'll just say what they've said the last four times we called. Not enough evidence to make an arrest."

"Levi just got mugged! That isn't evidence enough?" asked Hochi through her tears.

"What'll they do, look for fingerprints in his bruises?" Axel asked. "We're on our own. It's time we stood up for ourselves."

Nick grinned. "I haven't beat the cr- uh, the snot out of anyone in a while. Sounds like fun."

"I agree," said Marcus. He was doing his best not to look at Levi's battered face. "As they say, sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire."

Nick glared at him. "Fight fire with fire? What are YOU gonna do, ginger? Challenge the thugs to a game of chess?"

Marcus clenched his fist, but suddenly a garbled cry rang out. "STOP!"

They all turned in surprise to Levi, who was looking at them through puffy eyes. "Stop. All of you… stop. We're not gonna do anything. We're gonna wait it out."

Axel threw her hands out. "So we're gonna stay holed up in here until Dumb and Dumber and Even Dumber decide to leave us alone? We're gonna be cowards?"

"We are not being cowards, Alexandra." said Levi. Everyone stiffened. Levi only used full names when he was getting pissed. "We are being SMART. I won't have you kids running out to confront those guys."

"You kids?" Axel seethed. "I'm sixteen! I'm not a kid! I'm-"

"You're staying here." Levi interrupted. "It's final." He motioned to Lia, and she helped him rise off the couch, and limp his way down the hallway to their room.

Axel stood frozen for a few seconds, then with a sudden movement, grabbed her magazine off the table and chucked it out the window. She felt a sudden pressure on her waist. Joshi was hugging her.

She bent down, and ruffled his hair. "C'mon, squirt. It's not that bad. It'll be okay." He nodded and sniffled.

Nick strolled across the room, stopping next to the door. "It's a shame about that magazine, Ax."

Axel shrugged. "S'okay. I read it alre-"

"A real shame," Nick continued. "In fact, no one would blame you if you wanted to go down and get it."

Axel looked mystified. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Yep, that'd be perfectly reasonable. And if we just HAPPENED to run into those thugs while we were down there…" He trailed off.

Axel gave him a crooked smile. "Nick- forget what I said before. You're a freaking GENIUS."


	2. Chapter 2

B.A. gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles made a cracking sound. Face was peering over from the backseat of the van with an amused light in his blue eyes as Murdock continued to grate on B.A.'s last few nerves.

"Please, Bosco, go faster!" The pilot's voice was that of a little kid's as he complained, holding his abdomen and bending over in his seat. "My bladder's gonna explode!"

Hannibal waved his hand a little when B.A. opened his mouth. "Now, now, boys. Murdock, if you keep this up, B.A. will attempt to hurt you and that will only make it harder to hold your urine in."

Murdock moaned with a grimace. "I drank so much soda...uuuuuhhhhh."

"If you hold your breath, it should make you feel better." Face suggested and Murdock gave him a disbelieving look. "Really. And you'll pass out, so you won't feel it any more until we stop."

Hannibal turned to stare at the conman over the shoulder of his seat. "And then he won't be able to control his bladder and we'll be dealing with a very angry Bosco Baracus," He warned him. "Do you want that?"

"Hardly," Face muttered and B.A. made a low growling noise in his chest. "I can't focus with ya'll blabberin' and carryin' on back there. There's so many people in the way, if I hit a kid Imma be real angry with you guys." He was grumbling to the other three.

Murdock winced and shivered in his seat, squirming uncomfortably. "Face...if I hold it in for any longer, it's gonna come out my nose."

The conman blinked at Murdock blankly and Hannibal bit down on his cigar to keep from laughing out loud. B.A. rolled his eyes. "Where did you-...Um, never mind." Face cut himself off, shaking his head and looking over Hannibal's shoulder at the road. "He's either going to explode on us, or freak himself out. There's got to be someplace we can stop."

"Are we talkin' only bladder explosion, or whole body explosion?" B.A. wanted to know. " 'Cause I'm all for the whole body explosion."

Hannibal leaned forwards to look further down the road. "Alright, Face. B.A., find some gas station."

The driver made a face but did not argue and looked out his window for a good stopping place. There was a shabby-looking apartment building not that far down the road and right beside it was an old gas station that was surprisingly still open.

"There," He pointed and Hannibal nodded. "Murdock, we're pulling over so you'll be able to live without your bladder exploding."

Murdock blew out a gust of air, bouncing a little in the seat. Face watched him for a moment, then took a look out the windshield. "Right by those big thugs?" When Hannibal glanced back at him, Face indicated the group of six or seven huge men. In simple terms, they did not look too friendly.

"Well they don't appear to be bothering...wait a second." Hannibal stopped, squinting at the scene. Two kids, a boy and girl, were coming out of the apartment door and heading over to the thugs.

Hannibal unbuckled his seat belt and leaned forwards towards B.A. to see better out the side window. "What's going on?" Murdock's voice drug on in a whiny tone as he tried unsuccessfully to climb over Face for the door.

"Hannibal..." B.A. nodded as the boy and girl went right up to the thugs without hesitation.

The presumable leader tossed his cigarette away and pushed off the wall he had been leaning on, bearing down on the two. "We shouldn't be spying on them," Face had to throw Murdock back into his chair once more. "Can I let Murdock out please?"

Hannibal held up a hand. "Wait. I don't like the looks of this."

"Of course you don't." Face muttered and was ignored. Murdock shivered again and, as soon as Face looked the other way, leapt up and dove for the back of the van. He had just gotten his fingers wrapped around the handle of the back door when someone grabbed his shoes and yanked him roughly back. Murdock slid across the van floor, away from the doors.

"They're just talkin'." B.A. observed.

Truthfully enough, nothing bad was happening. But Hannibal was not going to let this go yet. He placed his cigar back into his mouth and made a humming sound, shaking his head a little. "Something doesn't look right here. Wait a few more minutes, Murdock."

"Have you ever felt like your tummy's gonna blow up like the A-Bomb and blow up the entire country 'cause your dang Boss thought there was something bad when there really wasn't?" The pilot was rambling, still sprawled face-first on the floor, voice somewhat muffled in the carpeting of the van floor. "Well, funny thing is, I'm about to have that problem. When this is over, I'm gonna write a book about it, too. And it'll be a bestseller that everyone loves, and they'll hate you since we all know that-"

"Fool!" B.A. suddenly snapped, slicing the air with his hand. "Shut up! Hannibal, check it out."

Right then as Hannibal turned back to the window and Murdock's rambling quieted, the leader stepped forwards and grabbed onto the boy's jacket collar, lifting him up. One of the other thugs came around and wrapped his bulky arm around the girl's shoulders, pinning her arms at her side. She opened her mouth, shouting at the thugs though they could not hear her at all through the van's walls. The leader laughed and brought his fist back, slamming it hard into the boy's gut. The boy doubled over as the man punched him again.

"Come on!" Hannibal turned and threw his door open, jumping out and slamming it shut as he hurried around the front of the van. The other three caught up with him as he fast-walked towards the group.

"Hey!" Hannibal called and they all turned, the girl hushing for a moment. The leader jerked the boy into one of the other thugs and turned fully towards Hannibal, standing tall and sizing the older man up as he approached. "You enjoy beating kids up?"

The leader spat on the sidewalk at Hannibal's feet. "Who the hell are you?"

"You didn't answer my question," Hannibal glanced around at the two kids then locked eyes with the leader. "I advise that you leave them alone."

"And what'chu gonna do about it, old man?"

B.A. stepped around Hannibal and cracked his knuckles loudly, towering over most of the thugs. They ran their eyes up to his face then back to Hannibal. "Oh, we'll just stop you ourselves."

The leader sniggered, turned to look around at his group then threw a quick, almost unseen punch right at Hannibal's face. It never connected. Smiling, Hannibal held the wrist of the leader in one hand, pulling his cigar from his mouth with the other. "Fine then."

He twisted the leader's arm. The man winced, trying to grab at Hannibal with the other but as soon as his elbow made a cracking sound, the leader let out a gasp and jumped back, clutching his limp arm. "**!"

One of the thugs came forwards and B.A. grabbed him up before he could get close, spun him, and threw him face first into the wall. The man fell, nose streaming blood and forehead scraped. His eyes rolled back. The two thugs that had the boy and girl back stepped, dragging the kids along and snuck around the corner.

"LET ME GO!" She screamed, kicking her legs up and down. A hand clamped down on her mouth and she bit down hard until she tasted blood and the man swore, turning her around and slapping her across the face.

The boy aimed a kick for the man. "Hey! Leave her alone!"

"And what're you gonna go about it, handsome?" The thug holding him taunted, grabbing his light hair and tugging his head backwards, hard. That was when a hand landed down on the thug's shoulder and he turned, first seeing a smiling face then a fist. The man slammed backwards into the wall and as soon as the back of his head cracked against it, his vision blacked and he crumpled to the ground, releasing the boy. He left the body and ran right for the man struggling with the girl.

Face stepped around the body of the man he had just punched out and watched as the boy jumped right onto the back of the man, clasping his hands around his throat and pulling backwards. The man gave a garbled gasp and his hands flew up to grab onto the boy's prying them off. Unbalanced, the boy toppled backwards off the man's back and hit the ground with an 'oof!' and the man whirled, one hand grasping the girl's long hair tightly. As the boy shook his head clear, the thug reached down and grabbed his jacket, hauling him up.

Without waiting for Murdock , Face began running down the alley and got to the three just as the man threw the boy against the wall. He fell to the ground again, head lolling on his chest while the girl cried, "Nick!"

Face grabbed the thug right as Murdock knelt at the boy's side, checking his pulse and gently shaking him. While the thug turned for him, Face pried him away from the girl and kneed him between the legs, grabbed his hair, and smacked his head against the wall. Like his partner, the thug's face went black and he collapsed once Face released him.

The girl was speechless for a moment, gaping at the man on the ground, then lifting her eyes to Face, then to the boy, Nick.

"Oh my God!" She suddenly shouted, bolting over and throwing herself down in front of him. She grabbed his shoulders, knocking Murdock's hand away. "Nick! Nick, wake up!" She took his hand in both of hers and squeezed, casting big emerald eyes to the pilot still crouched at Levi's side, watching her now. "Is he alive?"

Murdock shrugged. "Yeah. But I think his head's cracked."

She turned around as Face came up and knelt, asking her in a soft tone, "Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright," She chided. "Now, it's my turn. Who are you?"

By this time Hannibal and B.A. were rounding the corner and entering the alley. The girl whipped her head around to watch them as they walked up, B.A. rubbing the blood off his knuckles on his shirt and Hannibal puffing on his cigar with that smile. "How is he?"

"He's alive," Murdock informed Hannibal, rocking back against the wall. "Take care of the others?"

Hannibal gave him a nod. "It's safe out there for the time being. You can go to the restroom now, Murdock."

The pilot grinned, relieved and hopped up to his feet. "Thank God!"

While he ran off, Hannibal turned his attention back to the girl, still holding Nick's hand. "Did you know those thugs?" He asked first in a careful tone.

"Sort of," The girl shrugged. "Thanks, I guess, for helping out. But why'd you do it? Who exactly are you guys?" She eyed B.A. as he examined his knuckles, making sure they were clean, then shot Face a glare over her shoulder.

Hannibal chuckled, dropping his cigar butt on the ground and grinding it with the heel of his shoe.

"We're people you can trust. You, young lady, have just found the A-Team. I'm Hannibal, this is B.A., and this is Face. Murdock is the one who ran off to empty his bladder."

The girl stared at him as if he had just announced he was a king from Mars and the other three were his trusty servants.

"Uh..." she managed. Her eyes shifted back and forth, as if she wasn't sure where to look. "Axel."

Hannibal held out a hand for her to shake, and she took it reluctantly.

"Are you alright, Axel?" Hannibal asked through his cigar.

"Yes..." she said slowly. She pulled her hand back uncomfortably. "Uh... Sorry. Who are you guys again?"

"The A-Team."

She paused. "Are you guys like... a BAND, or something?"

The three men stared at her incredulously.

"Alright, let me explain this to you." Face said. "You ever hear about four dashingly handsome Army men, framed for a heinous crime, who broke out of federal custody in order to right wrongs, break bones, and prove their innocence?" He ended the soliloquy by flashing her a grin that said, "Be impressed".

She stared at him like a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Nope!" chirped Murdock, coming up behind the group. "That would be me. But Facey's right. We're true blue desperadoes. I'm like The Lone Ranger, and he's Tanto." He cocked a thumb at BA. "That means you're Silver, big guy."

BA scowled. "I ain't no horse, you crazy-"

"Break it up, boys." Hannibal scolded. They did, but Murdock started to whistle "The Lone Ranger" theme song quietly.

Suddenly, a soft moan could be heard as Nick shifted slightly. Axel bent over him. "Nick? Nick?"

Nick's eyes fluttered, and opened slowly. He looked like he was having trouble focusing on Axel's face.

"Ax...?"

"Yeah Nick?" Axel said, leaning in to hear him better.

Nick ran his tongue over his bottom lip, and then smiled.

"You're hot when you're worried about me." Axel stared at him for a second, then flicked him smartly on the nose. Nick winced and held up his hands in a weak attempt at defense. "The face! Watch the face!"

Axel shook her head, straightening up so quick that Face, who was crouched behind her, fell onto the seat of his pants. "You are lucky you're crippled," She said to a smug Nick. "You are very, VERY lucky you're crippled."

Nick winked cheekily and pushed himself up into a sitting position. However, his smug look quickly turned to one of mild confusion as his face paled and his eyes crossed. Hannibal caught the warning signs and managed to catch the boy right as his elbows buckled.

Axel's angry facade fell for a second as she noticed Nick being slowly lowered back down by Hannibal. "Nick? What... Are you okay?"

Nick made a gurgling sound in the back of his throat. "Urg... Walls are all melty. Stop melting, you stupid walls..."

Face turned back to Axel. "He probably has a concussion. He'll be fine, if we can get him to a doctor."

Axel gave him a strange look; half anger, and half... Something else. Some deeper level of anger that Face felt wasn't really directed at him.

"We don't have the money for a doctor," she told him bluntly. She turned on her heel, starting to cross the parking lot. "Just bring him upstairs. You should probably meet everyone else, anyway."

Face looked at her incredulously, then turned back to the group. BA was lifting Nick up in a bridal-style carry, and Murdock was in the middle of telling the boy that the walls around him started melting all the time, and that is was nothing to worry about unless giant, dancing cashews started swimming out of them.

"What'd I do?" Face asked Hannibal, as the five of them started to follow Axel, who hadn't even turned around to check if they were coming.

"Don't worry," Nick called from his perch in BA's arms. "Being a total bitch is how Axel says hello!"


End file.
